While her findings are still very preliminary, a UWindsor biology student has found that newly reconstructed wetlands in the oil sands of Alberta support a greater variety of bird species than their natural, old-growth counterparts.
Masters student Sheeva Nakhaie has been tracking birds in the area of Fort McMurray over the last three summers, counting species in existing boreal forests, as well as in those wetlands that have been mined for bitumen by petroleum companies and then restored to their original conditions.